Entertainment machine using biometric information

ABSTRACT

An entertainment machine using biometric information is disclosed. In one embodiment, the entertainment machine detects biometric information of a customer. The biometric information of the customer is compared against a database of biometric information of a number of predetermined people other than the customer, to yield one or more people having biometric information that most closely match the biometric information of the customer. These predetermined people may be famous people, such as sports stars, movie stars, public figures, and so on. The entertainment machine indicates to the customer the identities of the people having biometric information that most closely match the biometric information of the customer.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

Biometric information generally refers to biological, physiological,and/or behavioral traits or characteristics of individuals. Such traitsor characteristics may include, but are not limited to: irises, retinas,fingerprints, faces, hand geometries, handwriting, veins, and voices(e.g., speech). Biometric information has received wide attention withrespect to security applications. Biometric information may be used foridentification purposes and for authentication purposes. Forauthentication purposes, a person's biometric information may be scannedand compared to previously scanned and stored biometric information ofthis person, to determine if the person is who he or she claims to be.For identification purposes, a person's biometric information may bescanned and compared to previously stored biometric information of alarge number of people—including that of the person—to determine who theperson is.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention, by comparison, relates to an entertainment machine usingbiometric information. In one embodiment, the entertainment machinedetects biometric information of a customer. The biometric informationof the customer is compared against a database of biometric informationof a number of predetermined people other than the customer, to yieldone or more people having biometric information that most closely matchthe biometric information of the customer. These predetermined peoplemay be famous people, such as sports stars, movie stars, public figures,and even fictitious persons. The entertainment machine indicates to thecustomer the identities of the people having biometric information thatmost closely match that of the customer.

The entertainment machine may thus be employ in public settings such asbar, restaurants, shopping malls, public plazas, airports, and so on. Inexchange for money, such as a dollar, a person can learn forentertainment purposes what famous person, for instance, he or she mostclosely matches biometrically. People may be interested to learn, forexample, what sports stars their faces most closely resemble, or themovie stars who have hand geometries most similar to them. Still otheraspects, embodiments, and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent by reading the detailed description that follows, and byreferring to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawings referenced herein form a part of the specification.Features shown in the drawing are meant as illustrative of only someembodiments of the invention, and not of all embodiments of theinvention, unless otherwise explicitly indicated.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a method that may be performed by anentertainment machine, to determine the predetermined people who havebiometric information that most closely match the biometric informationof a customer, according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method that may be performed by anentertainment machine, to determine how closely the biometricinformation of one customer and the biometric information of anothercustomer match, according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of a perspective view of an example entertainmentmachine using biometric information, and may perform the method of FIG.1 or 2, according to a specific embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an entertainment machine using biometricinformation, which may perform the method of FIG. 1 or 2, and that isconsistent with but more general than the entertainment machine of FIG.3, according to an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments of theinvention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form apart hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specificexemplary embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. Theseembodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilledin the art to practice the invention. Other embodiments may be utilized,and logical, mechanical, and other changes may be made without departingfrom the spirit or scope of the present invention. The followingdetailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense,and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appendedclaims.

Determining Other People who Most Closely Match Customer

FIG. 1 shows a method 100 for determining other people that havebiometric information that most closely matches the biometricinformation of a customer, according to an embodiment of the invention.The method 100 can be performed by an entertainment machine, embodimentsof which are described in a subsequent section of the detaileddescription. The method 100 is intended for entertainment purposes, asopposed to security and other purposes. As such, the accuracy indetermining the other people who most closely match the customer is notcritical, and may be a subservient goal than to provide entertainment tocustomers.

The biometric information of a customer is detected by an entertainmentmachine (102). Detecting the biometric information is inclusive ofobtaining, acquiring, scanning, and capturing such information. Thebiometric information that is detected may include facial images of thecustomer, voice samples of the customer, fingerprint scans of thecustomer, handprint scans of the customer, and/or retinal or other eyescans of the customer, among other types of biometric information.Furthermore, the method 100 may operate in more than one modality, orjust one modality. For example, the method 100 may capture just facialimages of the customer as the biometric information, or it may capturefacial images of the customer and also voice samples, and so on.

The biometric information of the customer is compared against a databaseof biometric information of people other than the customer, to yield oneor more people having biometric information that most closely matchesbiometric information of the customer (104). The database information ofthe biometric information of people other than the customer includes atleast the same type or modality of biometric information that wasdetected with respect to the customer in 102. For example, if facialimages of the customer are captured in 102, then the database includesat least facial images of people other than the customer. Importantly,the database preferably does not include biometric information of thecustomer him or herself. This is because the goal is not identificationof the customer—i.e., determining the customer's identity—but rather foramusement and entertainment to indicate to the customer other peoplethat have similar biometric information as that of the customer.

The people are preferably famous individuals, such as sports stars,celebrities, politicians, and historical figures. Furthermore, thepeople may be fictitious persons or characters, such as popular cartooncharacters. The intention in one embodiment of the invention is to havethe biometric information of people with which typical customers arelikely to be familiar. Thus, yielding one or more people from thedatabase who have biometric information that most closely match thebiometric information of the customer is entertaining for the customer.For instance, the customer can learn whom he or she “looks like” or“sounds like,” as determined biometrically. The database is preferablyupgradeable, so that the biometric information of new persons can beadded to, and the biometric information of existing persons may beremoved from, the database as needed.

In one embodiment, the manner by which the biometric information of thecustomer is compared against the biometric information of each personwithin the database is accomplished as is known within the art, such asby using known approaches and algorithms. For instance, the comparisonof the customer's biometric information against the biometricinformation of each person may yield a numerical similarity value withrespect to that person. Once such a comparison has been accomplished foreach person within the database, a predetermined static or dynamicnumber of people having the highest numerical similarity values, and/orthe people having numerical similarity values greater than apredetermined threshold, are identified as the people having biometricinformation that most closely matches the biometric information of thecustomer.

Furthermore, the customer may be requested to provide additionalinformation about him or herself, to better guide the comparison in 104,and thus to provide maximum entertainment value for the customer. Forinstance, the gender and age range of the customer may be requested, andonly the biometric information of those persons in the database havingthe same gender and age range considered as potential candidates thatmost closely match the customer. This can avoid scenarios where theclosest matches for a male customer are all women, for instance, whichmay be embarrassing to the customer and decrease the entertainmentmachine's entertainment value for the customer, lessening its usage byother customers.

The identities of the people having biometric information that mostclosely matches the biometric information of the customer are thenindicated to the customer by the entertainment machine (106). Forexample, pictures of these people, and/or their names, may be displayedon a display device that is part of the entertainment machine. Asanother example, a hardcopy of the pictures of the people, and/or theirnames, may be printed by a printing device that is part of theentertainment machine. Additional information, such as shortbiographical summaries of the people that biometrically most closelymatch the customer, may also be provided, just in case, for instance,the customer is unfamiliar with the people to whom he or she mostclosely resembles biometrically.

Furthermore, prizes and/or awards may be provided for customers based ondifferent criteria in accordance with how closely they matchpredetermined people. For instance, the closest match to date of acustomer to any person may cause the customer to receive an award, theclosest match to date of a customer to a given predetermined person maycause the customer to receive an award, and so on. As an additionalexample, the customer matching any person or a given person by more thana threshold may cause the customer to receive an award.

Determining How Closely Two Customers Match

FIG. 2 shows a method 200 for determining how closely the biometricinformation of two customers match, according to an embodiment of theinvention. The method 200 can be performed by an entertainment machine,embodiments of which are described in the next section of the detaileddescription. Like the method 100 of FIG. 1, the method 200 is intendedfor entertainment purposes, as opposed to security and other purposes.As such, the accuracy in determining how closely the biometricinformation of two customers match is not critical, and may be asubservient goal than to provide entertainment to customers.

The biometric information of a first customer is detected by anentertainment machine (202), and the biometric information of a secondcustomer is detected by the entertainment machine (204). As before,detecting the biometric information is inclusive of obtaining,acquiring, scanning, and capturing such information. The biometricinformation that is detected may include facial images, voice samples,fingerprint scans, handprint scans, and/or retinal or other eye scans,among other types of biometric information. Furthermore, more than onemodality of biometric information may be detected, or just one modalitymay be detected. For instance, just the facial images of the twocustomers may be detected, or the facial images and voice samples of thetwo customers may both be detected.

How closely the biometric information of the first customer and thebiometric information of the second customer match is then determined(206). In one embodiment, the manner by which how closely the biometricinformation of the first and the second customers match is determinedmay be accomplished as is known within the art, such as by using knownapproaches or algorithms. For instance, the biometric information of thefirst customer may be compared to the biometric information of thesecond customer, to yield a numerical similarity value of the biometricinformation of the first customer with respect to that of the secondperson. Such a numerical similarity value may be normalized andexpressed as a “percentage likeness.” For instance, if the range ofnumerical similarity values is on a linear scale between 15 and 150, avalue of 117 be normalized to (117−15)/(150−15)=76%. Other approachesand algorithms may also be employed, however.

How closely the biometric information of the first customer and thebiometric information of the second customer match is finally indicatedto the customers by the entertainment machine (208). For example, thesimilarity value previously determined may be displayed on a displaydevice that is part of the entertainment machine, or a hardcopy thereofmay be printed by a printing device that is part of the entertainmentmachine. The biometric information of the customers that was captured,where this information is visually oriented, such as handprints orfacial images, may also be displayed on the display device, or printedon the hardcopy by the printing device.

Furthermore, prizes and/or awards may be provided for the first and thesecond customers based on different criteria in accordance with howclosely they match one another. For instance, the closest match to dateof two customers may cause them to receive an award. As an additionalexample, the matching of the two customers by more than a threshold maycause them to receive an award.

Entertainment Machine

FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of an example entertainment machine 300,according to a specific embodiment of the invention, which may becapable of performing the method 100 of FIG. 1 and/or method 200 of FIG.2. The entertainment machine 300 has a housing 302, the form factor ofwhich may be comparable to modern arcade games and suitable forplacement in hotel lobbies, bars, restaurants, airports, and otherpublic places. Disposed within the housing are a video display 304, acamera 306, a button 308, and a currency bill acceptor slot 310.

The video display 304 may be a cathode-ray tube (CRT) display device inone embodiment of the invention. The camera 306 is a specific example ofa biometric acquisition mechanism, which may be used to capture facialimages of customers as one type of biometric information. Once acustomer has inserted a dollar bill, or another amount of currency, intothe currency bill acceptor slot 310, the customer is able to press thebutton 308 to start the method 100 of FIG. 1 or the method 200 of FIG.2. Instructions are provided to the customer on the video display 304,and the results of the method 100 or the method 200 are also provided tothe customer on the display 304.

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of the entertainment machine 300 that ismore general than but consistent with the embodiment of theentertainment machine of FIG. 3, according to an embodiment of theinvention. The entertainment machine 300 of FIG. 4 includes a biometricacquisition mechanism 406, a computer-readable medium 408, a comparisonmechanism 402, an output mechanism 404, and a credit-accepting mechanism410. As can be appreciated by those of ordinary skill within the art,the machine 300 may include other components in addition to and/or inlieu of those depicted in FIG. 4. For example, the machine 300 mayinclude one or more controls, such as the button 308 of FIG. 3, to startthe comparison process, and/or to select which mode the machine 300 isto operate in where the machine 300 is able to perform both the method100 of FIG. 1 as well as the method 200 of FIG. 2.

The biometric acquisition mechanism 406, of which the camera 306 of FIG.3 is a specific example or type, obtains biometric information ofcustomers where the entertainment machine 300 performs the method 100 ofFIG. 1 or the method 200 of FIG. 2. The mechanism 406 may be or includean image-capturing mechanism, such as the camera 306, to capture facialimages, retinal scans, and/or eye scans of customers. The mechanism 406may be or also include a sound-recording mechanism to record voicesamples of customers, a touch-sensitive mechanism to obtain fingerprintscans and/or handprint scans of customers, as well as other types ofbiometric acquisition mechanisms.

The computer-readable medium 408 has stored thereon a database ofinformation of predetermined people where the entertainment machine 300performs the method 100. The medium 408 may include fixed and/orremovable media, volatile and/or non-volatile media, and/orsemiconductor, magnetic, and/or optical media, as well as other types ofmedia. The medium 408 may in one embodiment include fixed semiconductorvolatile media, such as dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), from whichcomputer programs are run. The medium 408 may in one embodiment includefixed magnetic non-volatile media, such as a hard disk drive, where suchcomputer programs, and where data for the computer programs, arepermanently stored. The medium 408 may further include in one embodimentremovable magnetic non-volatile media, such as floppy disks, as well asremovable optical non-volatile media, such as optical discs.

The comparison mechanism 402 may include hardware, such as processorsand other types of hardware, software, such as computer programs, or acombination of hardware and software, and may be field or remotelyupgradeable, such as over the Internet. The mechanism 402 in the method100 of FIG. 1 is to compare the biometric information of a customeragainst the database of biometric information of predetermined people toyield one or more people having biometric information that most closelymatches the biometric information of the customer. In the method 200 ofFIG. 2, the mechanism 402 is to determine how close the biometricinformation of a first customer matches the biometric information of asecond customer. The comparison mechanism 402, and hence theentertainment machine 300 of which it is a part, may further be able toperform both the functionality of the method 100 as well as thefunctionality of the method 200, in one embodiment of the invention.

The output mechanism 404 may include display devices, such as the videodisplay 304 of FIG. 3. That is, the mechanism 404 may be or include CRTdisplay device, flat-panel display (FPD) devices, liquid crystal display(LCD) devices, plasma display devices, as well as other types of displaydevices. Furthermore, the output mechanism 404 may include printingdevices, such as inkjet-printing devices and laser-printing devices. Themechanism 404 in the method 100 of FIG. 1 is to indicate to the customerthe people having biometric information that most closely matches thebiometric information of the customer. The mechanism 404 in the method200 of FIG. 2 is to indicate to the first and the second customers howclosely the biometric information of the first customer matches thebiometric information of the second customer.

Finally, the credit-accepting mechanism 410 is to accept cash-orientedcredit, such as bills of currency, coins, tokens, credit cards, chargecards, debit cards, value-representing cards or pieces of paper, and soon, from customers, so that obtaining the biometric information of thecustomers can be initiated in furtherance of the method 100 of FIG. 1 orthe method 200 of FIG. 2. As such, the mechanism 410 may include thecurrency bill acceptor slot 310 of FIG. 3. The mechanism 410 mayautomatically initiate performance of the method 100 or the method 200once proper cash or credit has been inserted thereinto, or may indicatethat a control, such as the button 308 of FIG. 3, may be pressed toinitiate such performance once proper cash or credit has been insertedthereinto. Alternatively, the mechanism 410 may, upon proper cash orcredit having been inserted thereinto, indicate that one of two modescorresponding to the methods 100 and 200 may be selected and started bythe customers.

Conclusion

It is noted that, although specific embodiments have been illustratedand described herein, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skillin the art that any arrangement calculated to achieve the same purposemay be substituted for the specific embodiments shown. This applicationis intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the disclosedembodiments of the present invention. Therefore, it is manifestlyintended that this invention be limited only by the claims andequivalents thereof.

1. A method comprising: detecting biometric information of a customer byan entertainment machine; comparing the biometric information of thecustomer against a database of biometric information of a plurality ofpredetermined people other than the customer to yield one or more peoplehaving biometric information that most closely matches the biometricinformation of the customer; and, indicating to the customer by theentertainment machine of identities of the one or more people havingbiometric information that most closely matches the biometricinformation of the customer.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein detectingthe biometric information of the customer comprises acquiring one ormore of: facial images of the customer; voice samples of the customer;fingerprint scans of the customer; handprint scans of the customer; and,retinal or other eye scans of the customer.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein comparing the biometric information of the customer against thedatabase of biometric information of the plurality of predeterminedpeople other than the customer comprises comparing the biometricinformation of the customer against one or more databases selected fromthe group of databases comprising: a database of biometric informationof a plurality of famous individuals; a database of biometricinformation of a plurality of sports stars; a database of biometricinformation of a plurality of celebrities; a database of biometricinformation of a plurality of politicians; a database of biometricinformation of a plurality of historical figures; and, a database ofbiometric information of a plurality of fictitious characters.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein comparing the biometric information of thecustomer against the database of biometric information of the pluralityof predetermined people other than the customer comprises yielding apredetermined number of the one or more people having biometricinformation that most closely matches the biometric information of thecustomer.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing the biometricinformation of the customer against the database of biometricinformation of the plurality of predetermined people other than thecustomer comprises yielding the one or more people having biometricinformation that most closely matches the biometric information of thecustomer as the one or more people having biometric information thatmatches the biometric information of the customer by more than athreshold.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein indicating to the customerby the entertainment machine of the identifies of the one or more peoplehaving biometric information that most closely matches the biometricinformation of the customer comprises displaying at least one of apicture and a name of each of the one or more people.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, wherein indicating to the customer by the entertainment machineof the identifies of the one or more people having biometric informationthat most closely matches the biometric information of the customercomprises printing a hardcopy of at least one of a picture and a name ofeach of the one or more people.
 8. An entertainment machine comprising:a biometric acquisition mechanism to obtain biometric information of acustomer; a computer-readable medium having stored thereon a database ofbiometric information of a plurality of predetermined people; acomparison mechanism to compare the biometric information of thecustomer against the database to yield one or more people havingbiometric information that most closely matches the biometricinformation of the customer; and, an output mechanism to indicate to thecustomer the one or more people having biometric information that mostclosely matches the biometric information of the customer.
 9. Theentertainment machine of claim 8, further comprising a credit-acceptingmechanism to accept cash-oriented credit from the customer and inresponse initiate obtaining the biometric information of the customer,comparing the biometric information of the customer against thedatabase, and indicating to the customer the one or more people havingbiometric information that most closely matches the biometricinformation of the customer.
 10. The entertainment machine of claim 8,wherein the biometric acquisition mechanism comprises one or more of: animage-capturing mechanism to capture at least one of facial images,retinal scans, and eye scans of the customer; a sound-recordingmechanism to record voice samples of the customer; and, atouch-sensitive mechanism to obtain at least one of fingerprint scansand handprint scans of the customer.
 11. The entertainment machine ofclaim 8, wherein the database comprises one or more of: a database ofbiometric information of a plurality of famous individuals; a databaseof biometric information of a plurality of sports stars; a database ofbiometric information of a plurality of celebrities; a database ofbiometric information of a plurality of politicians; a database ofbiometric information of a plurality of historical figure; and, adatabase of biometric information of a plurality of fictitiouscharacters.
 12. The entertainment machine of claim 8, wherein the outputmechanism comprises at least one of: a display device, and a printingdevice.
 13. A method comprising: detecting biometric information of afirst customer by an entertainment machine; detecting biometricinformation of a second customer by the entertainment machine;determining how closely the biometric information of the first customerand the biometric information of the second customer match; and,indicating how closely the biometric information of the first customerand the biometric information of the second customer match to the firstand the second customers by the entertainment machine.
 14. The method ofclaim 13, wherein detecting the biometric information comprisesacquiring one or more of: facial images; voice samples; fingerprintscans; handprint scans; and, retinal or other eye scans.
 15. The methodof claim 13, wherein determining how closely the biometric informationof the first customer and the biometric information of the secondcustomer match comprises determining a similarity value between thebiometric information of the first customer and the biometricinformation of the second customer.
 16. The method of claim 15, whereinindicating how closely the biometric information of the first customerand the biometric information of the second customer match to the firstand the second customers comprises displaying the similarity value. 17.The method of claim 15, wherein indicating how closely the biometricinformation of the first customer and the biometric information of thesecond customer match to the first and the second customers comprisesprinting a hardcopy of the similarity value.
 18. An entertainmentmachine comprising: a biometric acquisition mechanism to obtainbiometric information of a first customer and biometric information of asecond customer; a comparison mechanism to determine how closely thebiometric information of the first customer matches the biometricinformation of the second customer; and, an output mechanism to indicateto the first and the second customers how closely the biometricinformation of the first customer matches the biometric information ofthe second customer.
 19. The entertainment machine of claim 18, furthercomprising a credit-accepting mechanism to accept cash-oriented creditfrom at least one of the first and the second customers and in responseinitiating obtaining the biometric information, determining how closelythe biometric information of the first customer matches the biometricinformation of the second customer, and indicating to the first and thesecond customers how closely the biometric information of the firstcustomer matches the biometric information of the second customer. 20.An entertainment machine comprising: means for obtaining biometricinformation from a plurality of customers; means for storing a databaseof biometric information of a plurality of predetermined plurality;means for comparing the biometric information of each customer againstthe database to yield one or more people having biometric informationthat most closely matches the biometric information of the customer;means for determining how closely the biometric information of eachcustomer matches the biometric information of each other customer; and,means for indicating to each customer the one or more people havingbiometric information that most closely matches the biometricinformation of the customer and how closely the biometric information ofthe customer matches the biometric information of at least one of theother customers.